Started Christmas shopping !

Why do I feel so tired coming back to work after a Bank Holiday ? Not like I did lots of work while I was off - only spent a weekend in Chester. Very nice city but so many jewellery shops ! Very lively and busy city centre on a Saturday. I managed to buy 2 Christmas presents there, so feeling very happy. Shame about the weather on Sunday at the Country and Game Fair but still had a great time.
Spent Monday doing 4 loads of washing after Youngest came home from Leeds Festival. At least the weather on Monday was good enough to hang it out to dry. How can 4 days at a festival produce so many dirty clothes ? Don't they wear the same clothes all weekend any more ?
Waiting for Eldest to return from New Zealand to Australia and make up his mind about his future - whether he can stay in Oz or if he has to/wants to return to England. I'm hoping for the latter !
Looking forward to Canada holiday so much. Shame it's not Vancouver but I'm sure Toronto will be great.
Distinct shortage of Rob news and pictures so I'll just have to drool over the ones I have !

Friday again

Where did the week go? Where does time go? If time travel existed, would I want to go back and forward in time? It would be good to go back and right all those wrongs, undo those mistakes and make other choices. To see those people who have gone from one's life, maybe just for a few hours. And to go forward ? Do I want to see my future ? To see what my children and their children are doing in, say 20 years time ? But to see one's own death ? That's not a place I want to be. At the moment, I just want to see November 2012 to see the final chapter of "Breaking Dawn"and then come back to the present day to see everything else which will happen to him. Ah,well,it's all just conjecture anyway. We live in the present and that's where we'll stay. Now, to be invisible and to travel wherever one wanted- that would be something else ! I'd be with him all the time. If only ! Dream on, as they say.

Thursday

So, yesterday was my birthday. Hardly anyone knew so I shouldn't be surprised at the lack of congrats. Went out for meal with husband to new place. Food was good but overpriced. Not the best birthday but definitely not the worst. Got a text off eldest son requesting me to ring him in Australia so he could wish me Happy Birthday ! My best (or 2nd best because the 1st is just a dream) would be for him to come back to England but that's up to him. Got nice card off youngest son - not Twilight as requested but good all the same. Note to self - buy Twilight card).
Weekend on the way - weather not predicted to be good but husband and youngest may be off to boat so I've got at least Friday night and Saturday to myself. What to do? Clothes shopping, nip round Waitrose, watch Rob's films all day,see Eclipse for 3rd time ? Don't know yet. Depends on my mood at the time.
Good news - just won 3rd prize in comp ! Twilight and New Moon on dvd ! ( although I already have them,of course). Oh,happy days.

Undecided

Weekend was disappointing- not up to expectations as weather was rainy and cool, so barbeque was cooked outdoors but eaten indoors. Collected the boat but had to queue at locks because of large numbers of hire boats out. On Sunday attempted to complete hotel and car hire booking for Canada holiday but couldn't get onto website. Then had argument with husband about him reading aloud from his book while I'm trying to read mine (New Moon for the 6th time).
Monday wasn't better. Debit card pin number got locked so spent hours in the bank trying to get it sorted - now have to wait 5 days for new number ! Security is one thing but when it prevents you getting at your own money, it's beyond a joke. Couldn't access on-line banking so had to pay employees by cheque.
Want to write to Lizzy. I have her email address and her house address but don't know what to say. Know what I'd like to say but she probably gets loads of people saying the same thing. Almost feel like a stalker ! Not going to get me closer anyway, so just have to dream on.
Did have a small win on the lottery last week so maybe a warm up for the big one ?

Friday at last

So what's in store for the weekend ? Grocery shopping tonight, collect boat from boatyard tomorrow, then barbeque in the afternoon. Busy,busy,busy. Hoping for quiet Sunday to do some reading. Just bought "My Friend The Mercenary" because that's what Rob's reading right now. Is that going to be a film for him in the future ? Who knows ? I could see him in the role as Jacob in "Water for Elephants", but won't know about MFTM until I've read it.
My birthday next week - I've bought the present and card I want my husband to give me ! And Yes! they do have something to do with RP. Also my son's girlfriend's mum is giving me a lifesize cardboard figure too ! (She works in a library which has dvds and, as "Remember Me" just came out, she has the RP figure.)
Anything not to do with RP - youngest son still job hunting, eldest son still in Australia but off to New Zealand for holiday soon, then who knows, as his visa runs out at the end of September. Don't know what his options are but they include coming home as one. That's the one I'm hoping for !

Remember Me

Got the dvd yesterday but can't watch it yet as our televisions are "up-the-spout" when we put the dvd player on. Something to do with "going digital" and "work on the transmitter" until late August to facilitate this. I don't want digital - goes crazy when the weather's bad. Can't get a signal on all the tv's in the house for some channels. What's the point of it? Nothing wrong with the picture before and we had more than enough channels of garbage anyway, so where's the need for all this extra cost. Cost us £2000 so far to change TVs, dvd recorders/players,etc and what do we do with all the videos we have ? No-one wants them so they just gather dust. Wake me up when the picture's better please ! Oh, and the programmes are better too !

Horror and sadness

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-10771785

How could someone kill their own children by stabbing? How desperate must they be to drive them to do that? I can understand ( but maybe not agree with) someone taking their own life but to take the lives of a 1 and 2 year old is beyond my comprehension. What trouble can one be in that there is no other way out? This story fills me with horror and sadness, and pity for the relatives who have to live with this. Such waste is hard to accept.

Manic Monday

Wet again after dry weekend. Managed to do some gardening on Sunday at last. Went to Birmingham and the Black Country on Saturday. Visited the Glass Cone Museum (free !!), a vineyard and an antique centre. Had lunch at Mad O'Rourke's Pie Factory - have you ever heard of Kebab Pie, Curry Pie or Faggots and Peas Pie ? On the whole, a good weekend. Now, end of the month - not much to do. Just tidying up loose ends and downloading pictures of Rob.
Renewed son's house and contents insurance using comparison websites. Why do they give different costs for the same cover with different websites ? Ended up going direct to the cheapest through a cashback site and got it for £140 ish, compare with £237 last year.
Just waiting for my copy of "Remember Me" (out today) to be delivered. Probably have to wait until tomorrow. Ah well, such is life.

TGIF

Trying to decide if this was a good week or a bad week. Watched Twilight twice - good. Rob split with Kristen (if they were really ever "together" in the first place?) - bad. Why is this bad ? Because she's a "known" quantity and as such, acceptable. Well, we'll wait and see the new rumours. Some of those rumours have holes so big, you could ride an elephant ( Rosie?) through them ! Now waiting for "Bel Ami" and "Water for Elephants". WFE was a great book and I could see Rob in the role all through, but BA will be very interesting for "other" reasons !
This weekend - Birmingham tomorrow and lunch at Mad O'Rourke's Pie Factory. Should be interesting day. At least the forecast is warm and dry.

Wet Thursday

Hospital appointment for 9 am. Had to be there for 8 am to get blood tests so results ready for 9. In and out by 9.20 - £2.30 parking ! So much waiting around, watching nurses and other staff standing chatting, waiting for doctors to appear. I never go anywhere without a book in my bag, thank goodness. Came out to torrential rain so got soaked getting to the car. Back to work for 9.40. At least the post had arrived.
Gloomy day outside. Make plans for weekend - if weather's good or weather's bad. Just remembered - got to change bedclothes tonight. That always starts an argument, because I want matching pillowcases and he doesn't care. Well, if you've got them, you might as well use them ! That's my argument ! Just had the gold silk sheets I bought him for Christmas - exquisite ! Will have to buy another set, but can't decide what colour. Probably stick with gold, definitely not black !

Sunny day / in work

Wednesday aftenoon, sun shining and I'm at work. Just ain't no justice in this world. Bored at work, could be bored at home, but not likely with so much to do. You know - washing, ironing, cooking, cleaning - all those exciting things that keep me from just sitting down with a good book in the garden. There's another thing - grass to cut, weeds to pull, so if I sit in the garden, I see all the jobs waiting there. Where can I hide from all the work ? There's no hiding place really. It's his fault - he wanted a big garden, probably so he could be elsewhere doing what he wanted. I keep telling him that, even when we're away, the grass keeps growing, but he's rather be somewhere else. Preferably on HIS boat. He says it's ours, but I'm not sure I want it as much as he does. Still, I could say that about a lot of things ! Oh,look. It's time to go home. Deep joy !